Authors note:  This isn't necessarily a poem or a story, but rather a stream of thoughts.  I've been reading about the sinking of the U.S.S. Indianapolis and this is what I imagined went through their heads while they were waiting the FIVE nights and FOUR days for rescue.  

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Stranded.

Terrified beyond measure.

When are they going to come for us?

We've got to stick together, help out the wounded.

Sound off!

So many missing.

Are we the only survivors?

There's no land in sight;

Just endless amounts of ocean

Thick and swelling

Covering us over and over

Making us drift apart

Further and further.

We've go to stick together!

The sunlight is so blinding now.

Terrifying in a different way than the darkness of last night.

Smearing oil from the sunken ship on our skin

to help block the rays of sun.

It shouldn't be long now,

They'll come for us soon.

If we can just keep the sharks away.

Let them have the dead.

Huddle together now.

They keep circling.

Darkness again.

We're all so parched.

Many of those wounded are now gone.

The water is all around

But we cannot drink this salty water.

Try to doze;

We're so tired now.

How much longer, how much longer?

Two more days and two more nights we've lasted.

We've drifted so far

Lost so many more.

The sharks, they keep circling.

Still no land in sight.

Life preservers now waterlogged;

Not helping us much.

They aren't coming are they?

Some have gone mad.

They couldn't resist

The liquid we're floating in.

Drinking it greedily.

They've seen land, or so they said,

Swimming away from us toward mirages.

We've lost so many from exposure;

they just couldn't last.

We've got to keep together!

Daylight again.

We can't make it much longer.

So burned by the sun

And so thirsty, so thirsty.

What's that in the air?

Waving and screaming.

Do you think that they see us?

The plane's wings are tipping!

They're going for help!

Not much longer now.

Hold on a little bit longer.

Rescue is coming.

They haven't forgotten.

Keyword: U.S.S. Indianapolis

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Comments (12)

Posted by C.R. Vard 2008-07-30 21:50:58 .... ive always liked, well found interesting, the story of the indianapolis. I thought your 'stream of thoughts' was a good sketch, but could use some work, but im sure you aren't finished with this topic. one thing worth mentioning is that the men were covered in oil and suffering from expousure. + Report this comment
Posted by lemon 2008-07-30 22:05:14 .... yeah, i'll add that they covered their faces with the oil because they thought it would block the sunlight and not burn them so bad and that they were suffering from exposure. + Report this comment
Posted by C.R. Vard 2008-07-30 22:25:10 .... i don't know if that is true, i dont think they had much of a choice when it came to being covered in oil...you might be right, i really don't know. another interesting story is that they tied men to the wings of the planes and when their rescuers tried pulling them out of the water sometimes the men's skin would simply peel off. + Report this comment
Posted by philneale1952 2008-07-31 01:40:15 Horror I cannot imagine in my wildest dreams what these poor people must have gone through. I thought the piece was sharp and incisive. Folk in danger do not express lucid thoughts and ideas, and that came across very starkly. Makes me shudder. Good piece. Phil + Report this comment
Posted by Dr Lucifer 2008-07-31 10:43:24 Empathy This is an excellent attempt to empathize with those in that desperate situation. Some emotion is captured and expressed but I think a story could do it better. Just take all the pieces of emotion that you've captured and put them into a story so we can experience the emotion with you. + Report this comment
Posted by lemon 2008-07-31 10:56:58 .... C.R.Vard: Some of them probably just got covered when the ship sank, but from the articles I've read and some of the survivors accounts, they talked about using the oil that was floating around them to try to protect their skin from the sun. =] + Report this comment
Posted by Something Indecent 2008-07-31 17:59:00 .... I've always been interested in this accident ever since the Quint speech in Jaws. I know from research that a lot of that info is inaccurate but the whole situation is fascinating in a morbid kind of way. I think you should do a story about this amie. It would be pretty good. + Report this comment
Posted by lemon 2008-07-31 20:28:34 .... I think I will do a story. I got through reading an article about it and wrote this real fast just as things were coming to me, but I think doing a story would be a lot better as a tribute to them than this running speech. :o| + Report this comment
Posted by Zombie Punk 2008-08-01 06:16:01 .... I have never heard of the U.S.S Indianapolis but this stream of thoughts got me interested in it. I thought it was pretty good and believable, and I am looking forward for the story. I think it would be really good. I don't know if it really happened, but you should throw some cannibalism into the story. Because ... well, you can't go wrong with cannibalism, can you? + Report this comment
Posted by r.e.potter 2008-08-01 19:43:11 SHARK!!!!!!! That would be intense, floating round while sharks circled. Gonna have to read up on this incident now that you've stirred my interest. Some of the best books ive read and movies Ive seen involve water. Nice job of wording this disaster poeticly + Report this comment
Posted by Brian W Callaghan 2008-08-06 12:10:58 .... good stream of consciousness. It gives the feeling of panic in the survivors' minds and also the fatigue. I would like to see you do a full story on this subject. It can be construed as a metaphor for quite a lot of things. + Report this comment
Posted by d.dasgupta 2008-08-08 06:14:16 Vivid It's vivid, it's scary. Especially the sharks circling part. Hard to imagine oneself in this situation and then figure out how one would be thinking. The last bit carried hope and made it appear that there was a ray of light in the grim surroundings. Quite gripping. + Report this comment

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